New York Domestic Relation Laws
170. Action for divorce.
An action
for divorce may be maintained by a husband or wife to procure a judgment
divorcing the parties and dissolving the marriage on
any of the following grounds:
(1) The cruel and inhuman treatment
of the plaintiff by the defendant such that the conduct of the defendant
so endangers the physical or mental well being of the plaintiff as renders
it unsafe or improper for the plaintiff to cohabit with the defendant.
(2) The abandonment
of the plaintiff by the defendant for a period of one or more years.
(3) The confinement of the defendant
in prison for a period of three or more consecutive years after the marriage
of plaintiff and defendant.
(4) The commission of an act of adultery,
provided that adultery for the purposes of articles ten, eleven,
and eleven-A of this chapter, is hereby defined as the commission of an
act of sexual intercourse, oral sexual conduct or anal sexual conduct,
voluntarily performed by the defendant, with a person other than the plaintiff
after the marriage of plaintiff and defendant. Oral sexual conduct
and anal sexual conduct include, but are not limited to, sexual conduct
as defined in subdivision two of section 130.00 and subdivision three of
section 130.20 of the penal law.
(5) The husband and wife have lived
apart pursuant to a decree or judgment
of separation for a period of one or more years after the granting
of such decree or judgment,
and satisfactory proof has been submitted by the plaintiff that he
or she has substantially performed all the terms and conditions of such
decree or judgment.
(6) The husband
and wife have lived separate and apart pursuant to a written agreement
of separation, subscribed by the parties thereto and acknowledged or proved
in the form required to entitle a deed to be recorded, for a period of
one or more years after the execution of such agreement and satisfactory
proof has been submitted by the plaintiff that he or she has substantially
performed all the terms and conditions of such agreement. Such agreement
shall be filed in the office of the clerk of the county wherein either
party resides. In lieu of filing such agreement, either party to such agreement
may file a memorandum of such agreement, which memorandum shall be similarly
subscribed and acknowledged or proved as was the agreement of separation
and shall contain the following information: (a) the names and addresses
of each of the parties, (b) the date of marriage of the parties, (c) the
date of the agreement of separation and (d) the date of this subscription
and acknowledgment or proof of such agreement
of separation.